Savings while making movies and TV shows
The sudden collapse of the value of the Canadian dollar against the American greenback in 2014 steered Los Angeles producers to Toronto and Vancouver for extra budgetary savings while making movies and TV shows.
Guillermo del Toro directed his haunted house movie Crimson Peak and the FX show The Strain in Toronto, while also doing preproduction on Pacific Rim 2, which will shoot at Pinewood Toronto Studios in 2015. And Vancouver has a busy 2015 in view, with Star Trek 3 to shoot mainly in the west coast production hub.
Vancouver is also to host production on Steven Spielberg's The BFG and Uncharted, Sony’s adaptation of the video game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.
Canada Calls for Cable Unbundling by Carriers
The past year saw Ottawa set in motion plans to compel cable and satellite TV providers to allow subscribers to pick-and-pay for TV channels they want to view.
During regulatory hearings, U.S. suppliers warned they may pull popular American primetime series from the Canadian airwaves, or distribute the shows via digital portals, to stop any cable unbundling precedents spilling over into the U.S. market. All of which could see Canadian TV viewers fuming in 2015 over not being able to see their favorite American shows.